The 7 Biggest Hits and Misses from WWE WrestleMania 41 Weekend

WWE has put together a strong string of WrestleMania events in recent years and had the tough task of topping themselves with WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas.

Ultimately, both nights delivered yet were far from perfect.

Seth Rollins' defiant victory over Roman Reigns and CM Punk in Triple Threat action was an incredible closer to Night 1. Nothing else on the card remotely came close, though Jey Uso tapping out Gunther to clinch the World Heavyweight Championship was very much a WrestleMania moment.

Night 2 was exceptionally stronger on the whole, starting with the Women's World Championship Triple Threat where Iyo Sky found a way to walk away with her title reign intact. It was on that same show that John Cena conquered Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship albeit with an anticlimactic assist from Travis Scott.

All in all, although it won't be remembered as one of the best installments ever, the premier pay-per-view significantly shook up the WWE landscape and left the audience eagerly anticipating what's next.

In the wake of WrestleMania weekend, let's look back at the biggest hits and misses of WrestleMania 41.

The closing moments of Night 1 of WrestleMania 41 were a prime example of how predictability isn't necessarily a bad thing if it's properly executed.

Seth Rollins has long suffered from not being overly interesting with what he's been involved in on WWE TV. His greatness in-ring could never be question, but he was overdue for a drastic character shift and pairing up with Paul Heyman was exactly the magic he was missing.

No one will ever look at Rollins and argue that the addition of Heyman to his act was a must. Rollins is a multi-time world champion and WrestleMania headliner, and under no circumstance does he need the WWE Hall of Famer as his mouthpiece.

However, CM Punk also didn't need Heyman to do the talking for him during their time together in 2012 and 2013, but their alliance made for must-see television, anyway.

Rollins and Heyman have a mutual disdain for Roman Reigns it seems, and that's what should be explored when they inevitably explain their actions. Ultimately, Reigns being betrayed by his wiseman will make him that much better of a babyface in the long run because he'll actually have to be vulnerable for once and on his own.

Given their collective star power, the buildup to Logan Paul and AJ Styles' WrestleMania match was severely underwhelming, to say the least.

It didn't help that the outing itself wasn't better than it was. It was a perfectly solid affair, but it lacked meaning because their bad blood was poorly defined and they failed to have the undercard sleeper that one would expect them to be capable of.

Worse yet, Paul had his hand raised at the end of it.

This should have been a slam-dunk victory for Styles, who is coming off another lengthy layoff after returning at the Royal Rumble. Instead, he's being utilized as a stepping stone for Paul with no obvious endgame in sight.

If WWE is preparing Paul for a shot at Jey Uso's World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash, then the outcome was logical. If not, Styles should have gone over decisively in order to get back on track and starting building serious momentum.

The only aspect of this that worked was the involvement of Karrion Kross. The two-time NXT champion has taken an interest in Styles and it will be intriguing to see how that's followed up on come Monday's Raw.

The Dirty Dom era is officially underway on Raw.

Weeks of tension being teased between Dominik Mysterio and Finn Balor culminated in Mysterio betraying Balor in the Fatal 4-Way match and stealing the win from him to become the new Intercontinental Championship.

Mysterio will surely acknowledge on Monday's Raw that, per the rules of the bout, it was every man for themselves and he simply took advantage of an opportunity. The full-blown breakup of The Judgment Day is imminent and this was the necessary next step in telling that story.

The second-generation star has established his own identity since joining Judgment Day in late 2022 and becoming one of the best heels on the Raw roster. His in-ring work doesn't compare to others in the company, but his character work alone made him the best fit for that title eventually.

Mysterio receiving a pretty positive reaction from the crowd upon capturing the prestigious prize should also be an indicator that an organic babyface turn is coming for him sooner rather than later.

It only took 40 years, but WWE finally booked a standard singles, non-title women's match for the WrestleMania card, and it was a well-crafted story to boot with Naomi and Jade Cargill.

It was unknown how Naomi would fare as a heel having been a babyface for the last decade, but she's exceeded expectations in outstanding fashion. Very little has changed about her matches, but she has since stepped up her heel mic work considerably.

That's why it was such a surprise for fans to see her lose clean to Cargill when they went one-on-one on Night 1 of WrestleMania 41.

They worked well enough together and had a quality contest, but Cargill giving Naomi her comeuppance so soon was disappointing. WWE could have booked a slightly more ambiguous outcome to further the feud and build toward a rematch, preferably at Backlash.

There's no guarantee that the rivalry is officially over, but it also isn't guaranteed that they'll resume their rivalry, either. Time will tell how Naomi bounces back, but Cargill could have easily absorbed the defeat on this show if only so Naomi could keep rolling for a little longer.

Any other outcome than Jey Uso winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Gunther on Night 1 of WrestleMania 41 would have been the wrong one.

WWE took the long-term storytelling route with Uso by having him fall short against Gunther on several occasions. That made his World Heavyweight title triumph over The Ring General on Saturday night all the more meaningful.

It simultaneously served as a hot start to the show and set the tone for what was to come in the remainder of the night.

The question now turns to whether Uso can hang at the main-event level as a champion and not just a challenger. He'll have credible competition waiting in the wings for him as soon as Monday's Raw, including the freshly-turned Seth Rollins.

Regardless of how long his reign lasts, he can forever say he was World Heavyweight champ and that, despite what his detractors may believe, he can win when it matters most.

Virtually everything about the execution of the WrestleMania 41: Night 2 main-event was abysmal and hindered what should have been an all-timer of a moment.

The match itself was slowly finding its groove prior to the abrupt ending. Travis Scott interfering wasn't totally shocking after what he did to Cody Rhodes at Elimination Chamber 2025, but him being the only person to interfere was quite the questionable decision.

Cena following that up with a belt shot and a three count was letdown of a conclusion. Cena capturing his record-setting 17^th WWE world title was the correct outcome, but how it happened wasn't exactly ideal.

It's more painfully apparent than ever before that The Rock simply shows up when it's convenient for him and derails plans that would have worked better without his involvement. In this case, Rock not returning to aid Cena to victory completely defeated the purpose of Cena “selling his soul” to him at Elimination Chamber and planting the seeds for an alliance that has yet to come to fruition.

Cena's title reign will be fun to follow, but such a monumental moment should have hit better.

Night 2 of WrestleMania 41 had a lot going for it on the whole, but it peaked early with the tremendous Triple Threat for the Women's World Championship.

A bad build wasn't enough to take away from the amazing chemistry that Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley had when the bell rang. The action was exciting from start to finish and any one of them could have realistically won.

Belair beating the two of them for the title and subsequently going heel would have had potential, but there's nothing wrong with Sky being booked as the winner instead.

Sky has fallen under the radar since securing the strap back in March and has basically been a background player in the feud between Belair and Ripley. Sky capitalized on their mutual animosity and stole the victory to retain her title.

That should solidify her as the face of Raw's women's division, not an afterthought. Belair and Ripley can continue to feud outside of the title picture and work their way back in down the road, but for now, it's Sky's time to shine and her phenomenal performance at WrestleMania proved that.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.